Dragon's Dogma
Dragon's Dogma is a 2012 game by Capcom for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Players take on the role of the unnamed main character who begins the game residing in a modest fishing village. The main character encounters a fierce dragon that proclaims him "the Arisen" and steals his heart, robbing him of an normal life. The player must then spend the remainder of the game trying to track the dragon down. The game was developed by staff members that worked on previous franchises such as Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and Breath of Fire and seems to be a throw-back to the Dungeons & Dragons series of games developed by Capcom. Characters *'Quina' (キナ) - Resident of Cassardis and the main character's childhood friend. Quina is gentle but strong-willed, and is always concerned with the main character's safety. By presenting her with a Godsthrone Blossom or a Noonflower, the player can increase Quina's affinity with him/her. *'Adaro' (アダロ) - Chief of Cassardis. Adaro holds a fatherly role to Quina and the main character. He is physically fit despite his age. Giving him Beast-Steak or Ambrosial Meat will warm him to the player. *'Edmun Dragonsbane' (領王エドマン) - The seemingly ageless Duke, who once slew a dragon and brought peace to the peninsula. He resides in the Duke's Demesne. With the awakening of the dragon, he's been building up his forces. He is fond of Large and Giant Fish. *'Aelinore' (エリノア) - Aelinore is the third wife of Edmun Dragonsbane. She is gentle by nature; as such, she finds her life within the castle intimidating. She loves being presented with Windmill Flowers and White Orchids. *'Madeleine' - Madeleine is a travelling Shopkeeper. Her wares tend to favor outfits and armor for women and magic items, but her stock can be improved if she is given the Gold Idol, obtained on a side quest. Madeleine loves Magick Medals and her favorite weapons are the Divine Razors. *'Reynard' - Reynard is a traveling peddler, wandering all around Gransys to sell his wares. He can also provide services for enhancing equipment. Reynard wishes he could find out what happened to his missing father. His favorite gifts are Reminishrooms from the Cursewood. *'Fournival' - Fournival is a salesman and nobleman and the father of Symone, a somewhat spoiled little girl. A shrewd businessman, he is a wealthy and magnanimous man with a high-class bearing. Due to his economic influence, he counts many important NPCs as friends, such as Ser Daerio of the northern watch and the Chamberlain of the Gran Soren Cathedral. Some authorities, however, suspect some of his profit is acquired from activities that are less than legal. *'The Dragonforged' - a man living in a cave beneath Hillfigure Knoll awaits a worthy Arisen to train and prepare for the inevitable battle ahead. He is well over 1000 years old and shows multiple scars and burns across his flesh. He resides in the cave with his servant The Fool, a man who speaks as though he were in a trance. *'Selene' - a strange and timid young woman living in her grandmother's cottage in the foggy Witchwood. She excels at making ale out of herbs, and she loves Toadstool Sitters. *'Mercedes' - the female Captain of the Enlistment Corps. Mercedes wants more than anything to be recognized as a knight by her father, a king. Julien likes to tease her every chance he gets. Mercedes enjoys drinking Cloudwine, so it would be wise for the player to give her some as a gift to increase her affinity level. Her weapon of choice is the Silver Rapier. *'Julien' - the loyal and upstanding Knight of Voldoa, Julien nevertheless has a mean streak when it comes to Ser Mercedes. The two end up battling each other at Windbluff Tower. Despite not completely sharing their ideals, Ser Julien is a member of the Salvation collective group, a band of followers that worship the Dragon and beg for it to wreak destruction. Oddly, Julien likes nothing better than a Festival Pie, an item more suited to a jester. *'Grigori' - the Great Dragon who came to Cassardis and ripped the Arisen's still beating heart from his chest, leaving him miraculously alive somehow. Grigori taunted the Arisen to come get back his heart, and to destroy it in the process. Gameplay The player is able to select between various types of vocations: Fighter, Warrior, Mystic Knight, Strider, Ranger, Assassin, Mage, Sorcerer, and Magic Archer. Gender choice and appearance settings are also available. The class system, or vocation, makes a difference to the gameplay and tactical options available to the player, ranging from Fighters relying on hack and slash combat to Striders' skill at climbing on large enemies. One of the game's main innovations is the "pawn" system. While the player's party is exploring the world, the three party members who accompany the main character are controlled by artificial intelligence, but the player can issue the orders to them: "Go", "Help" and "Come". One of the party members is a non-playable character (NPC) and belongs to the main character's world. The other two party members are NPCs, which can be NPCs borrowed from other players by connecting online or locally generated by the game. The party members, referred to as pawns, can talk, seek the main character's help, and provide information about enemies. The player must work on strengthening the main character and the party members. The pawns are vocal, yelling out useful hints and strategies, which are often vitally important to surviving tough boss encounters and dungeons. The pawn system also features social networking features. The game features a "grab" action, where the main character can grab or cling to enemies, objects, or NPCs. The player can use this feature for more advanced attacks. For example, the main character can either grab on to a griffin's legs and attack it directly, or climb up to reach its head for a more lethal blow. "In a lot of action games with big enemies, the tendency is just to have you hacking away at the shins. You don't get the full effect of fighting a giant boss," Hideaki Itsuno, the director of Dragon's Dogma, said. "With this game, you can climb all over it. If it has a body part, you can attack it." The ability to climb enemies has drawn comparisons to Shadow of the Colossus. The game's large open-world environments have drawn comparisons to Capcom's own Monster Hunter series as well as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In addition to the large open world, Dragon's Dogma also features a large city environment with over 200 non-player characters (NPCs) that move about according to their own time schedules. The player can communicate with the residents in full voice. The game features a persistent world with a day-night cycle; this affects the gameplay during the night, when the game takes on a more survival horror feel reminiscent of Resident Evil Outbreak. In addition, the game's art style and character movements have been compared to Dark Souls, the hack-and-slash combat elements have been compared to Devil May Cry, some of the fantasy elements have been compared to Breath of Fire, and the combat and party systems have been compared to Monster Hunter. The game is designed to be playable even by those who are not too skilled at action games. These types of players can recruit strong NPCs and let them do the fighting during combat as they watch over the battlefield. Players have access to 40 to 50 hours of main quest play, and up to an additional 70 hours or more of side quests. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen A full expansion to Dragon's Dogma, entitled Dark Arisen, was released for PS3 and Xbox 360 on April 23, 2013. Dark Arisen is not considered DLC, but rather an enhanced version of the original game with additional features and the new Bitterblack Isle zone to explore. One does not need to own the original game to play Dark Arisen, as the original game is included on both retail and digital versions. Owners of the original game can upload their saves to be rewarded with an Eternal Ferrystone (a Ferrystone with infinite uses), 100,000 Rift Crystals--a form of in-game currency--and various armor sets. The Eternal Ferrystone was included by developers to counter complaints by players who felt that there was far too much walking in the expansive game world. The Xbox 360 version of Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen includes a separate disc used to install game data for more stable playability. Gallery Kina.png|''Quina'' Adaro.png|''Adaro'' KingEdmon.png|''Edmun'' Eleanor.png|''Aelinore'' Box Art and Merchandise Image:Dragon's_Dogma_Japan.png|''Japan'' Image:Dragon's_Dogma_Box.png|''U.S.'' Image:Dragon's_Dogma_Europe.png|''Europe'' Image:Dragons_Dogma_DA_Japan.png|Dark Arisen Japan Image:Dragons_Dogma_DA_OST.png|Dark Arisen OST Image:Dragon's_Dogma_Design_Works.png|''Artbook'' External Link *[http://www.capcom.co.jp/DD/ Official Site (Japanese)] Category:Games Category:Xbox 360 Games Category:PlayStation 3 Games Category:Fantasy Games